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Demographics

Location

This group contains master lists of Cities, StatesProvinces, etc. required for entering address information.

All Status

This section contains the lists of Statuses that may be applied to different categories of people in the system. These lists are sufficient for most offices. However, if you wish to use more detailed statuses, you can add to the list of Statuses here. Each type of person has its own independent list of statuses.

Each status has a type, which gives it its meaning to the system. There are six basic types of statuses: Potential, Assessed, Active, Inactive, Archived and Deceased. These types are not configurable. Additional Statuses of the same type may be added to help distinguish between the different Statuses you may wish to track.

Tip

EXAMPLE: For CaregiversParticipant, there are Inactive Active Statuses such as Quit, Terminated, Do Not Hire, On LeaveJob Training, Job Search Job Maintenance, etc. The system considers all of these Statuses as Inactive, but by differentiating between them, it becomes easy for users to see why the Caregiver is Inactivesee what Active status a Participant is in.

Only Caregivers Employers and Clients Participants with a current Active status may be put into Schedules and/or AuthorizationsJob Details.

Language

Create the list of Languages that are spoken by your Clients Employers and CaregiversParticipants. When adding a new person or organization into the system, select the Language(s) they can speak. Knowing the languages a person can speak is essential when pairing up a Caregiver Participant with a Clientan Employer. The list of Languages from which to select may differ from company to company.

Classification

Classifications provide additional ways to filter and group people in your system. A person can be assigned only one category, but they may have an unlimited number of Classifications attached. Classifications can be used to filter the list of people in the Find Area on the left-hand side of all modules in HomeTrak Companion. You can also filter on a Classification in the Caregiver Participant Suggestion filter options. If you are a Telephony user, Schedule Alert Messages can be set up to be sent only for Clients with a specific Classification.

Characteristics

Maintain a list

Characteristics

Maintain a list of personal Characteristic items that you can add to Clients and CaregiversParticipants. When you add a new person into the system, you can choose their Characteristics (i.e. personality traits, likes and dislikes, etc.) from this list.

Title

Maintain the list of potential Titles that you can use for people in the program (for example, Mr., Ms., Dr., Sir, etc.). A Title can be selected when editing a person’s profile in Companion.

Info

When adding a new person to Companion, if the text entered matches an item in this Title list, the program will automatically select the text as the title on the person's profile.

Tip

EXAMPLE: When you enter Dr. John Smith, if "Dr." is in the Title list, Companion will automatically set the Title to "Dr." and the first name on the profile to "John". If "Dr." is NOT in the Title list, both words ("Dr. John") are included in the person's first name field.

Rank

You can rank the importance of a variety of items and relationships throughout HomeTrak Companion. You cannot add to this list.

Name Suffix

Maintain the list of potential Name Suffixes. A Name appears after a person’s name (for example, Jr., Sr., PhD., MD, etc.). A suffix can be selected when editing a person’s profile in Companion.

Info
When adding a new person to Companion, if the text entered matches an item in this Name Suffix list, the program will automatically select the text as the name suffix on the person's profile.
Tip

EXAMPLE: When you enter John Smith Jr., if "Jr." is in the Name Suffix list, Companion will automatically set the Name Suffix to "Jr." and the last name on the profile to "Smith". If "Jr." is NOT in the Name Suffix list, the last word entered (in this case "Jr.") is set as the person’s last name.

Relationship Categories

These are the different types of people and organizations you can enter into Companion. The categories describe the relationship between your office and these people, or between two different people. 

Tip

Since each person or relationship can only have one category applied to it, these categories should be your primary way of grouping them.

Table of Contents
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Home/Health Evaluation

Define categories that describe the types of Documented Events in your system. Use Documented Events to record outstanding performance as well as complaints or problems with a Client or Caregiver. Create Documented Event categories that make sense for your company, such as Client Complaint, Caregiver Arrived Late, Job Well Done, etc.

Care Plan

Participant Intake

Summary

Maintain the list of Home/Health Evaluation items that can be added to Clients Participants in Companion. For example, you may wish to record the allergies, conditions or dietary requirements of a Client.

Duties to Perform

It is important to have a plan for what your company will do to care for each Client. This plan of care will largely depend on the services a Client is authorized to receive. Care Plan Duties are the specific tasks that Caregivers should perform when working with a Client. Some Care Plan Duties may be Informational Only, representing important information about the Client that does not detail a specific task to be performed, but may still affect the Caregiver’s duties.

Duties can be added directly to a Client's profile. Care Plan duties added to a Client indicate duties that any Caregiver should perform for the Client, regardless of the type of work. You can indicate how often the tasks should be performed. Duties can also be added to a Client Authorization, where they represent specific tasks to be performed for Schedules based on this Authorization.

Medicine

Maintain a list of common medications to attach to the Client.

ICD Codes

ICD Codes are standard diagnosis codes that succinctly capture specific information about a client’s conditions and medical diagnoses. The two current standards are ICD-9 and ICD-10, with ICD-10 slated to replace ICD-9. Here you can set up your list of your commonly used ICD codes.

If the category of a selected item is ICD-9, the detail panel on the right hand side of the screen will show a web tool that will attempt to provide an equivalent ICD-10 code for the selected ICD-9 code. This will allow you to convert your current ICD-9 codes to ICD-10.

Task Sets

Task Sets are used with Telephony to group together related Care Plan Items that are meant to be performed together. If your Caregivers use Telephony to enter tasks performed, using Task Sets allows Caregivers to enter a single code to represent multiple tasks performed.

If your Telephony options are not configured for Caregivers to enter task codes, then you do not need to set up Task Sets.

Scheduling

Qualification

Use Qualifications as a way to indicate your Caregivers’ disciplines, or what types of service they are qualified to perform. When adding a new Caregiver into the system, you will select their Qualifications from this list. Caregivers may have multiple Qualifications.

Qualifications are used by the system when matching Caregivers to a Schedule for a particular Client. When creating your Call Type master list, you should assign a Qualification to each Call Type. A Caregiver must have the Qualification that is assigned to the Call Type in order to provide the authorized care. A Caregiver who does not have the Qualification required by the Call Type will not be saved to any Schedule created with that Call Type. Also, the Caregiver Suggestion tool will not show Caregivers who do not have the qualification required by the Call Type on the Schedule.

Call Type (Services)

Call Types represent the different types of services your company offers. They are a crucial component of HomeTrak Companion, tying much of the system together. Call Types are used in the following areas:

  1. Add relevant Call Types to your Office in the Agency Office Module. (NOTE: If you have more than one Office, you must add Call Types for each Office. If you have only one Office, any Call Type you add in User Defined Information will automatically be added as a Call Type in your Agency Office Module.)
  2. Select a Call Type for each Call Type-specific Billing and Payroll Rate added in the Agency Office Module, the Client Module, the Caregiver Module or the Payer Module.
  3. Select a Call Type for each Authorization added to a Client in the Client Module.
  4. When adding a Schedule, you will choose the Authorization with the appropriate Call Type.
  5. During the Payroll and Billing process, the system will apply the correct Rate(s) based upon the Call Type.

As you can see, properly configuring the master list of Call Types is critical for a variety of reasons. A Billing Rate must have a Call Type specified. An Authorization requires a valid Billing Rate. A Schedule is created from a valid Authorization. The Call Type can dictate how much to pay a Caregiver and bill a Payer, if Call Type-specific Rates have been set up.

Appointment Categories

Define categories to indicate the types of Appointments in your system, such as Meeting, Assessment Visit, etc. An appointment books time on the calendars of all those involved. The system will alert you to schedule conflicts if an Appointment is scheduled during the same time period as another calendar item.

Tip

EXAMPLES: A lunch appointment for yourself and a contact who is a good referral source for your company could be categorized as a Meeting, or an appointment with a Client could be categorized as an Assessment Visit.

Categories

Define categories that indicate the types of Tasks in your system. A task serves as a reminder to complete a certain job. Although Tasks appear on the calendars of those involved, they do not book a block of time. Therefore, the system will not alert you to schedule conflicts if a Task is scheduled during the same time period as another calendar item. If you wish to book a block of time on the calendar, you must add an Appointment, not a Task.

Schedule Attributes

Attributes can be added to Schedules to indicate important information about a Schedule.

Tip

EXAMPLE: If you are missing timecard information about a Schedule, you could mark that Schedule with an Attribute indicating “Needs Paperwork”. You can filter Schedules based on attached Attributes in the Daily Schedules and Finalize Modules.

Event Reminders

Use Event notices to send reminder notices via SMS text to the Caregiver's cell phone in advance of events involving that person.

Event notices may be configured to send a set amount of time before or after the beginning or end of an event, and may be set to send for specific categories of Tasks or Appointments, or Schedules. Specific Schedule Call Types may be excluded from Alerting and Notices by editing the Call Type in the Agency Office Module.

Info

You must have SMS Texting set up for your office to use this feature. (Cloud users only.)

Schedule Length

Use this option to specify the Schedule Length Caregivers are willing to work. Each option specifies a range with a minimum and maximum number of hours. This is used in the Caregiver Suggestion tool to find Caregivers whose Schedule Length preferences match the actual length of the schedule being filled. (If the Caregiver does not have a Schedule Length preference, the program assumes they are willing to work any length of Schedule.)

A Caregiver who does not match a Schedule Length preference is not prevented from being scheduled—this tool is used only when suggesting appropriate Caregivers for a Schedule.

Break Categories

Set up the categories for different types of schedule Breaks. For more detailed information on this setup, see the document Configuring Breaks.

Alert Messages

Customize the message text and details that are included in the alert messages sent out by the Companion telephony service when a caregiver has not arrived for a schedule. Determining which messages are sent and when they are sent out is configured under Schedule Alerting in the Agency Office Module.

Reminder Messages

Customize the message text of the status messages that are periodically sent out by the Companion telephony service to indicate normal operation. Determining which messages are sent and their frequency is configured under Schedule Alerting in the Agency Office Module.

Documentation

Documented Event Categories

Tip

EXAMPLE: If a client calls to report a rude caregiver, or that a caregiver provided excellent care, you can document the call to ensure the information is recorded in your system and will appear in the profiles of both the client and caregiver involved. You can run reports on documented events. The Documented Events report will assist you in many tasks, including yearly caregiver evaluations.

Required Date

Add Required Dates, such as training courses and evaluations, for clients and caregivers. 

Tip

EXAMPLE: You may wish to record that a caregiver completed an Alzheimer's training course and the certification is valid for 2 years.

The list of categories you define here will represent the different types of requirements your company tracks, their importance, and how or whether they expire. Required Dates can be specified as Mandatory or Optional. If a Caregiver has an incomplete or expired Mandatory required date on their profile, you will receive warnings if you try to schedule that caregiver.

There are three types of Required Date categories:

  • No Expiry: Enter these requirements with the date they are completed, such as a Caregiver Orientation session. These requirements do not expire.
  • Actual Date: Enter these requirements with the actual Certification date they are completed. These requirements expire after a length of time that is specified for the category.
  • Expiration Date: Enter these requirements with the date they actually expire, rather than the date they were completed.  

Extra Information

Define categories that indicate the type of Extra Information records that you wish to add to a person’s profile. You can add Extra Information to a client’s or caregiver’s profile, in addition to the existing fields and features provided.

Popup Alert

Create categories for Pop-up Alerts. Pop-up alerts appear in the bottom right corner of the screen when opening a person or organization's profile. These alerts may serve as important reminders or warnings about the person or organization.

Referral Categories

A referral is a person or organization who advised someone to use the services of your company. You can add Referral Sources to both client and caregiver profiles.

Create your list of Referral categories here. Categorize your Referrals according to any criteria that make sense for your company: Rehab Facility, Doctor, Hospital, etc.

Skill

Recording the skills of Office Staff, Caregivers and Clients can be very important for scheduling. Each office person has a set of skills they bring to your company. Each Caregiver has a set of Skills that helps them to care for a Client. Likewise, each Client needs service from a Caregiver who has certain Skills. Skills added to a Client’s profile represent the Skills that a Caregiver is required to possess in order to work with this Client. The Skills that a Caregiver or Office Staff person has, and those needed by a Client or specific Authorization, have great impact on the scheduling process. While the Qualification represents the type of service a Caregiver is able to perform, each Client and Authorization may have unique requirements. These requirements are fulfilled by matching specific Caregiver Skills to those required by a Client.

There are two types of Skills you can add to the profile of a Client, Caregiver, or Office Staff person: Critical Skills and Regular Skills.   

Critical Skills are Skills that a Caregiver must have in order to work a Schedule requiring those Skills. Critical Skills are used by the Caregiver Suggestion tool to filter out Caregivers who do not meet the requirements to work with a particular client. You cannot save a Caregiver to a Schedule unless they possess all of the Critical Skills required by the Client and/or Authorization.

Regular Skills are less important, but still desired to work with the Client. The percentage of Regular Skills matching between a Client and Caregiver is seen in the Caregiver Suggestion form. Missing Regular Skills does not prevent a Caregiver from being scheduled.

Skills required by a Client may be Client-Specific or Authorization-Specific.

Client-Specific Skills are added directly to the Client. These Skills are always needed by the Client, no matter what service is being performed.

Authorization-Specific Skills are added directly to an Authorization. Add these skills only if you have multiple Authorizations for different types of services for a Client, and different Skills are needed for each service. Authorization-specific Skills do not override the Skills needed by the Client. Rather, the Authorization-specific Skills are added to those already needed by the Client when matching Caregivers to a Schedule.

Additional Image

Define categories for the Additional Images you add to profiles in Companion. The additional images section allows you to add and view images right in the software.

Tip

EXAMPLE: If a caregiver is certified in CPR/First Aid, you can scan the certificate onto your computer and add this image to the database through the Additional Images tool.

External Types

Define the categories for External Information linked to profiles in Companion. External Information items represent links to files and folders outside of Companion.

Tip

EXAMPLE: You have a document that contains information about a client or caregiver. Once you've added a link to this document, you can launch to the file, folder or website without using Windows Explorer to locate it.

Info

Create links only to shared files and folders that are accessible to all users. If a user does not have access to the file or folder, the link will not open on their computer.  

Incident

Incidents may be used to track formal warnings or disciplinary actions taken with your employees. Incidents are similar to Documented Events, but due to the potentially sensitive nature of the contents, Incidents are only accessible within the Human Resources Module.

Maintain your list of Incident categories and types here.

Web Intake Questions

Master list of Questions to use on Client and Caregiver web application forms. For detailed configuration information, see the document Configuring Questions for the Client and Caregiver Applications.

Interview Questions

The Interview feature in the Relationships Management Module allows you to record Client or Caregiver assessment information. How to Configure Interview Questions

Plan of Treatment

Medicine

 

Allergies

 

DME and Supply

 

Nutritional Requirements

 

Safety Measures

 

Frequency/Route

 

Reporting

Mail Merge Letter

Define the body contents of various letter forms to use with the Mail Merge Report (in the Printed Reports Module) to create individually addressed letters to Caregivers, Clients or Contacts. The Mail Merge body should be designed to fit on one page.

Page Layout

This list represents the various page layouts used by Companion’s Reporting features. While you cannot add or remove items from the list, you may edit layouts in order to adjust margins.

Watermark

Define different watermarks that can be chosen when running reports. If you select a watermark when you run a report, the watermark image appears behind the report contents.

Password

Password options for protecting generated PDF reports for emailing. For more details, see the document Password Protect a Report.

Payroll and Billing

Holiday

Set up the names of the holidays that your company observes. The Holiday categories created here will be available to select when adding the dates of office-specific holidays and setting up their pay and bill factors in the Agency Office Module.

Expense Description

This list contains various descriptions for Expenses. An Expense Description can be applied to Expense Extra Charges and appears on Invoices and Billing and Payroll reports.

Extra Charge

This list defines the types of extra charges in Companion. You cannot add to this list but if you integrate with QuickBooks, you can edit these items to link them to service items in QuickBooks.

Invoice Promotion

The Invoice Promotion is optional text that appears at the bottom of the Invoice. A promotion from this list can be selected in a Payer’s Billing Options.

Invoice Term

The Invoice Term indicates when payment is due. The terms from this list are selected in a Payer’s Billing Options and appear on Invoices.

Pay Stub

The Pay Stub Information is optional text that appears at the bottom of the pay stub report (Summary by Caregiver Payroll report). Items from this list are selected in a Caregiver’s Payroll Options.

Rounding Type

You can configure how Schedule hours are rounded, if you bill or pay based on rounded hours. You will specify which rounding option to use for each Payer or Caregiver in their Billing or Payroll Options.

Tax Type

If you are required to charge state or federal taxes on your services, your list of Tax Types and rates are set here. The Tax Type(s) must also be attached to Call Types in the Agency Office Module in order to be applied. This allows you to specify which services are taxed and which are tax-free. The taxes will be applied when calculating Billing and included in the Invoice totals.

With Support's Advice

Rate Type

Rate Types determine how a Rate is utilized during calculation. When you add a Rate Package or a Billing/Payroll Rate, you select the applicable Rate Type. There are 5 standard Rate Types already configured: Hourly, Monthly, Per 12 Hour Live In, Per 24 Hour Live In and Per Visit.

Info

In most cases you will not need to edit these Rate Types. If you do choose to add new Rate Types, it is recommended that you contact HomeTrak support for assistance.

Shift

Do you bill or pay different rates depending on the day (e.g. weekday or weekend) or time of day? If so, set up separate shifts here. Bill and Pay rates can be given different values for different Shifts.

Info

Because Shifts have such a significant impact on Rates and in the calculation of Billing and Payroll, this option is restricted. Please contact HomeTrak Support for assistance if you need to set up or remove additional shifts.

Rate Package

Rate Packages are used on Authorizations to determine which Rate Types to use for calculating Billing and Payroll for the Schedule(s). For each Rate Package, you have the option to define a standard range of hours. If a Schedule is created based on this Rate Package has a length that is outside the standard hours of the Rate Package, the system will generate a warning on the Schedule.

Warnings and Errors

This list represents the various Warnings and Errors that can appear on Schedules in Companion.

Although you cannot add or remove anything from this list, or change the name or meaning of any warning, you can customize the importance of each warning. You can configure any warning on a schedule to do any of the following:

  • calculate the error
  • appear in the list of warnings and errors for a schedule
  • prompt to confirm while saving a schedule
  • prevent a schedule from being saved
TipEXAMPLE: You decide that a Schedule should not be created if it has a particular warning. In this case, you should check the box “Block Save of Schedules” on the configuration for that error. If the “Calculate the Error” checkbox is not checked, this error will not be generated and you will never see it when creating Schedules.type of disability, funding sources, and hobbies of the Participant

Detailed Information

Maintain a list of more detailed information branching from the Summary section, with an area for free text. Includes areas such as barriers to employment, medications, education details and more.

Preferred Districts

Maintain where the Participant is able and willing to work, this is used in the Job Matching process.

Employment History

Record and maintain past work history and experiences here.

Questions

Maintain progress and assessments of Participants using the Questions tab.

Scheduling

Appointment Categories

Define categories to indicate the types of Appointments in your system, such as Meeting, Assessment Visit, etc. An appointment books time on the calendars of all those involved. The system will alert you to schedule conflicts if an Appointment is scheduled during the same time period as another calendar item.

Tip

EXAMPLES: A lunch appointment for yourself and a contact who is a good referral source for your company could be categorized as a Meeting, or an appointment with a Participant could be categorized as an Assessment Visit.

Categories

Define categories that indicate the types of Tasks in your system. A task serves as a reminder to complete a certain job. Although Tasks appear on the calendars of those involved, they do not book a block of time. Therefore, the system will not alert you to schedule conflicts if a Task is scheduled during the same time period as another calendar item. If you wish to book a block of time on the calendar, you must add an Appointment, not a Task.

Event Reminders

Use Event notices to send reminder notices via SMS text to the Office Staff's cell phone in advance of events involving that person.

Event notices may be configured to send a set amount of time before or after the beginning or end of an event, and may be set to send for specific categories of Tasks or Appointments, or Schedules.

Info

You must have SMS Texting set up for your office to use this feature. (Cloud users only.)

Reminder Messages

Customize the message text of the status messages that are periodically sent out by the Companion telephony service to indicate normal operation. Determining which messages are sent and their frequency is configured under Schedule Alerting in the Agency Office Module.

Documentation

Case Notes Categories

Define categories that describe the types of Case Notess in your system. Use Case Notes to record any interactions with Participants, Employers and Office Staff.

Tip

EXAMPLE: If a employer calls to report a rude participant, or that a participant provided excellent care, you can document the call to ensure the information is recorded in your system and will appear in the profiles of both the employer and the participant involved. You can run reports on case notes. The Case Notes report will assist you in many tasks, including yearly reviews and evaluations.


Required Date

Add Required Dates, such as training courses and evaluations, for clients and caregivers. 

The list of categories you define here will represent the different types of requirements your company tracks, their importance, and how or whether they expire. Required Dates can be specified as Mandatory or Optional. If a Participant or Office Staff has an incomplete or expired Mandatory required date on their profile, you will receive warnings if you try to schedule that participant.

There are three types of Required Date categories:

  • No Expiry: Enter these requirements with the date they are completed. These requirements do not expire.
  • Actual Date: Enter these requirements with the actual Certification date they are completed. These requirements expire after a length of time that is specified for the category.
  • Expiration Date: Enter these requirements with the date they actually expire, rather than the date they were completed.  

Popup Alert

Create categories for Pop-up Alerts. Pop-up alerts appear in the bottom right corner of the screen when opening a person or organization's profile. These alerts may serve as important reminders or warnings about the person or organization.

Referral Categories

A referral is a person or organization who advised someone to use the services of your company. You can add Referral Sources to both client and caregiver profiles.

Create your list of Referral categories here. Categorize your Referrals according to any criteria that make sense for your company: School, other agency, advertising, etc.

Skill

Recording the skills of Participants can be very important for scheduling. Each Participant has a set of Skills that helps them to fulfill a Job Detail for an Employer. Likewise, each Employer needs service from a Participant who has certain Skills. Skills added to a Employer’s Job Detail represent the Skills that a Participant is required to possess in order to work for this Employer. These requirements are fulfilled by matching specific Participant Skills to those required by an Employer.

Additional Image

Define categories for the Additional Images you add to profiles in Companion. The additional images section allows you to add and view images right in the software.

Tip

EXAMPLE: If a participant is certified in CPR/First Aid, you can scan the certificate onto your computer and add this image to the database through the Additional Images tool.


External Types

Define the categories for External Information linked to profiles in Companion. External Information items represent links to files and folders outside of Companion.

Tip

EXAMPLE: You have a document that contains information about a participant or employer. Once you've added a link to this document, you can launch to the file, folder or website without using Windows Explorer to locate it.


Info

Create links only to shared files and folders that are accessible to all users. If a user does not have access to the file or folder, the link will not open on their computer.  


Incident

Incidents may be used to track formal warnings or disciplinary actions taken with your employees. Incidents are similar to Case Notes, but due to the potentially sensitive nature of the contents, Incidents are only accessible within the Human Resources Module.

Maintain your list of Incident categories and types here.

Web Intake Questions

Master list of Questions to use on Employer and Participant web application forms. For detailed configuration information, see the document Configuring Custom Forms Questions.

Interview Questions

The Interview feature in the Relationships Management Module allows you to record Employer and Participant assessment information. How to Configure Interview Questions

Reporting

Page Layout

This list represents the various page layouts used by Companion’s Reporting features. While you cannot add or remove items from the list, you may edit layouts in order to adjust margins.

Watermark

Define different watermarks that can be chosen when running reports. If you select a watermark when you run a report, the watermark image appears behind the report contents.

Password

Password options for protecting generated PDF reports for emailing. For more details, see the document Password Protect a Report.

 

 

With Support's Advice

Security Level

Set up various security roles for your office staff users, to control their access to different areas of the program. Companion comes with several standard roles already configured. Security roles can be selected when editing or setting up users in the Agency Office Module, or when adding a new Office Staff person. 

Info

If you do not assign a security role to a staff member, they will have full access to the program by default.  If you wish to allow a user full access to all parts of the program, it is best not to give that user any security role at all.


Email Server

Setup your SMTP email server information. To send emails from HomeTrak Companion, your email server connection information must be properly configured here.

Dictionary

You can add additional words into HomeTrak Companion’s dictionary for use with the Spell Check feature on text boxes within the program.